At the Beginning
by Magical Me
Summary: A Lily, James, and Co. story, which will eventually go up to seventh year. I somehow managed to forget the prologue when chaptering this, so if you're interested in reading it, be aware that it's a separate story!
1. Starting out on a Journey

And here it is, the first part of my series! Hope you like it. Read my note at the bottom. Luv ya!  
  


At the Beginning Part I  
Starting out on a Journey  
*  
We were strangers  
Starting out on a journey  
Never dreaming  
What we'd have to go through  
Now here we are  
And I'm suddenly standing  
At the beginning with you  
*  


  
"But anyway, my mum and dad never would tell me what it was. Of course, they always smiled at me whenever I asked about it, so I suppose it couldn't really be anything that bad. Maybe it's some sort of oral test?"  
  
"Oh, I hope not!" Lily said fervently, shaking her head. She was standing, rather cold and damp from the trip across the lake, in a hallway with a lot of other first year students, who looked just about as confused and scared as she felt. "I'm sure I'd freeze up and not be able to answer anything they asked me."  
  
"Well, there are worse things, you know. It could be a test."   
  
"Oh, don't say things like that! I don't know any magic at all, I'd simply die, I'm sure!"  
  
"Oh, relax, I'm sure it'll be fine," replied the girl Lily had been discussing the sorting ceremony with.   
  
Just then, a young woman with dark hair pulled into a tight bun entered the hall.   
  
"The sorting is about to begin. Form a line and follow me. And behave."  
  
For a few seconds, she stood still and erect, surveying the huddled students with dark, sharp eyes from behind rather large, square glasses. Then, she turned on her heels and proceeded out the tall doors, motioning with a wave of her hand for the students to follow her.  
  
Wordlessly, Lily stepped into line with the rest of the silent students, her heart beating madly in her chest. The girl she'd been talking with slipped in front of her with a wink. This was slightly reassuring. From what little the girl had said about herself, Lily had gathered that she came from an all-wizarding family. If she wasn't that scared, Lily didn't know why she should be.   
  
With a start, Lily realized she'd stepped through the huge doors into a different, gigantic room. Looking around wonderingly, she noticed four tables filled with older children lined up across the floor. Above them, and facing the first years, was another table, at which several adults Lily assumed were teachers were seated. Shaking slightly, she felt the hundreds of eyes on her and everyone standing around her.   
  
"Make them stop," she thought to herself. "I just know I'll do something wrong if they keep watching me like that!"  
  
Luckily, Lily's prayers were answered within seconds. A voice rang out into the hall, singing. Curious, she looked around everywhere, trying to find the source of the song. Finally, her eyes rested on an extremely old-looking hat, patched and frayed in every which way, that was perched atop a stool in the center of the room. With a start, she realized the hat had a gaping hole in it-and that the words were coming from inside the hole!   
  
"Amazing," she whispered, as the hat stopped its song and the room began to shake with the students' thunderous applause.   
  
"I guess so," came a low voice from behind her. Whirling around, she saw tall boy with long black hair covering his mouth with a hand, as if he'd just yawned. He met her bright green eyes with his deep black ones, and casually dropped his hand, revealing a smile that made Lily shiver, although she didn't quite know why.  
  
"Severus Snape," he said, nodding his head.  
  
"Lily Jenkins," she replied, turning around again, as the woman who had brought them into the hall called "Arrington, Annabelle."  
  
"RAVENCLAW!" cried the hat.   
  
"Banker, Steven!"  
  
"RAVENCLAW!" it cried again.  
  
"What house are you hoping for?" asked the low voice from behind her.  
  
"I-I don't really know," mumbled Lily, suddenly aware again of her next to no knowledge of anything about Hogwarts, and hoping Severus didn't laugh at her.  
  
"Imagine that! I know where I want to go, of course. My whole family's been in there, and I can't imagine what they'd think if I wasn't accepted. But I will be."  
  
"And, er, which house is that?" asked Lily, trying to conceal her eagerness to know what the most preferred house was.  
  
"Slytherin," he replied, as a Black, Sirius, became the first Gryffindor.  
  
He didn't say anything else, so Lily turned forward again in time to hear the woman with the square glasses call "Dayton, Kelsey."  
  
"Bye," whispered the girl in front of her, jogging up to the hat and placing it over her blond curls.  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!" screamed that hat, and Lily began to think that maybe she wanted to be in Hufflepuff as well.   
  
"Excellent," said Severus from behind her, and Lily noticed a rather large boy with hair so blond it looked as if it had been bleached walk to the table on the far side of the room, where the rest of the students seated there were standing up and clapping. She supposed, from Snape's words, that it was the Slytherin table.   
  
Then Farthing, Emma, became a Hufflepuff, and a pair of twin girls became Gryffindors. But as Isaacson, Nathaniel, was sorted into Slytherin, Lily began to be nervous again. Her turn was coming up, and she was far from feeling ready. What if she was put in a house she didn't fit into? What if she couldn't make any friends? What if-  
  
"Jenkins, Lily."  
  
Slowly, Lily walked up to the stool, legs feeling as though they were about to collapse beneath her, painfully aware that the whole school would know about it if she did something stupid. But after what seemed like ages, she reached the stool and clapped the hat on over hear head.   
  
"Hmmm," muttered a voice from somewhere around her head, and Lily instantly forgot what she was so scared of. "Very interesting," continued the hat, "a mixture of things I've not seen the like of in a while. No matter, we'll find where you belong. Hufflepuff might do," (Lily's heart leapt for a moment), "but then again, I think somewhere like Ravenclaw could fit just as well. It's a rather impressive mind you have, dear. Or-Slytherin? I don't know, somehow I don't think that's right at all. But Gryffindor-yes, I think we have something there. You have the potential to be great. Indeed, I'm sure now that you're a  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!".  
  
Somewhat dazedly, Lily got to her feet and made her way over to the table on the opposite end from the Slytherin one, where several people sat smiling and clapping. She tried to smile back as she sat herself down next to a girl she recognized as one of the twins.  
  
"Hullo," said the girl cheerfully. "Lily, right? Welcome to Gryffindor."  
  
"Th-thank you," said Lily, studying the girl. She had rough brown hair pulled into two long, wind-blown braids, and big, merry blue eyes. The girl sitting next to her looked exactly the same, down to the mismatched rubber bands that held together her braids. She smiled briefly at Lily, then returned her gaze to the boy sitting across from her, who she seemed to be deep in conversation with.  
  
"So where are you from?"  
  
"Surrey."  
  
"Oh! We have cousins there," said the girl, jerking her head toward her twin. "We're from Liverpool. So...pureblood?"  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"I guess not, then. Pureblood is the word we use for anyone whose parents were our kind. You know, wizards."  
  
"Oh, right," said Lily, slapping herself mentally. She'd read all about wizard terms, and had convinced herself she wouldn't forget any of them. "I'm Muggle born."  
  
"That's neat. Our older brother, Nick, knows all about Muggles. His best friend was one, you see. Of course, he had to leave him to go off to Hogwarts, telling him he was going off to some all-boys boarding school in Switzerland, or something. You should have seen the look on Andrew's face. He always thought we were an odd family. And he never even came into our house! Oh, look! A new Gryffindor!"   
  
Sure enough, when Lily looked up, it was to see a nervous-looking boy with dusty hair making his way towards their table. She joined the rest of the Gryffindors clapping, before Ravenclaw overpowered them in honor of McFinley, Nicole.  
  
"Hi," said the twin Lily had been talking to, smiling broadly at the boy, "Sarah Heidt. And that's my sister Lucy."  
  
"I'm Lily," she added, "Lily Jenkins."  
  
"Remus Lupin," said the boy softly, shifting his gaze from one place to the next, as though he couldn't believe where he was. After a moment, though, he sat himself down next to a much taller boy who Lily supposed must be a sixth or seventh year.  
  
"Ooh, look at him," whispered Sarah, nodding toward the boy who was currently seated upon the sorting stool, hat down over his eyes. "Chubby little blighter, isn't he?"  
  
Lily couldn't help but agree as she looked at him, waiting for the hat to pronounce the biggest part of his Hogwarts destiny. He was so fidgety! From one point of view, it was rather annoying. "But in some ways, I suppose it's rather endearing," Lily admitted to herself. "He looks rather like a little schoolboy starting his first day at kindergarten."  
  
"Well the hat's certainly taking a long time with him," muttered Sarah a touch grumpily. "It'd do well to hurry up. My stomach's rumbling so loud I'm almost sure there are stampeding elephants inside. See, there it goes again!"  
  
Lily giggled. Two full minutes later, the hat yelped out its judgment, and Peter Pettigrew became the newest Gryffindor.  
  
"Potter, James!"   
  
"Look at that hair!" squealed Sarah, pointing at the boy who had just stumbled out of line. "How cute is that! I don't suppose he even bothered brushing it this morning. That's good. I hate it when people are obsessive about the way they look. I don't see why it even makes a difference."  
  
"Mmm," mumbled Lily, whose stomach had begun to rumble as well.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!"   
  
"Oh good, that didn't take too long at all. Now only...around fifteen to go, I think."  
  
"Sixteen," declared her twin, Lucy, speaking for the first time. Evidently, the boy across from her had dropped their conversation upon the approach of the boy whose hair Sarah had praised. "I counted. Lucy Heidt," she added quickly, remembering Lily.  
  
"Lily Jenkins."  
  
"I wonder if there'll be any more Gryffindors," Lucy began again, "or if this is the lot. I don't think so, though. It's an unusually small amount. I mean, seven? There are usually at least eight. Or at least that's what Anita told me."  
  
"Anita?"   
  
"Our older sister. We're a family of four children, you know. Anita, Nicholas, Sarah, and me. How about you?"  
  
"Oh-I've got one sister," replied Lily, a picture of Petunia in her full, bony glory flashing across her mind.   
  
"That's good, then. It's very good to have someone around to stay up at night and share secrets with," said Sarah, hanging her arm around Lucy."  
  
"Yes-very good." Lily couldn't really imagine anyone sharing secrets with Petunia. She'd given it up years ago. It was just too hard: Petunia was the biggest gossiper Lily had ever met.  
  
"Look, Lucy!" cried Sarah suddenly. "It's Sandy Ralling!"  
  
"You're right!" yelled Lucy, pointing to the sorting stool so Lily could see whom they were referring to. "She's an old friend of ours from when we went to London on holiday," she explained. "I wonder--"  
  
"RAVENCLAW!"   
  
"Oh," sighed Sarah, sounding slightly disappointed. "Oh well. Would you excuse us, Lily? Only we haven't seen her or her brother Edmund for about two years now."  
  
Lily smiled and nodded her head in consent, and Lucy and Sarah tiptoed away toward the Ravenclaw table, whispering excitedly between them.  
  
Dejectedly, Lily looked around at the people sitting next to her. Now that Sarah and Lucy were gone, she was in between a girl that looked just slightly older, and a boy a bit older than that. Both of them were turned the other way, conversing with the people on their other sides. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were sitting next to each other across from her, and kept shooting edgy looks at one another, although neither made any attempt at conversation. Resignedly, she returned her eyes to the students being sorted.   
  
"SLYTHERIN!" the hat shouted, and Lily craned her neck to catch a glimpse of whoever had just been sorted. It was Severus Snape, the boy with the long hair who had been behind her in line.  
  
"You gotta watch out for them Slytherins," said a voice from across the table. Turning, Lily realized the owner of the voice was none other than the boy with messy black hair. She wished she could remember his name, but she was so horrible at these things. Something with a P...  
  
"We met that one on the train," said his companion, a boy who also had black hair, although his was a lot less unruly. "Ugh."  
  
"He got what he wanted, anyway," said Lily, remembering their tidbits of conversation in line.  
  
"And what he deserved, I'm sure," muttered the calm-haired one.   
  
"James Potter," said the other, smiling at Lily.   
  
"Of course!" said Lily silently. "Lily Jenkins," she said out loud.  
  
"I remember," said James, and Lily suddenly felt horrible that she hadn't remembered him.  
  
"Sirius Black," said the other. "Now who wants to bet that one'll be another of those darn snakes?"  
  
"SLYTHERIN!" declared the hat, seconds later.  
  
"How could you tell?" asked Lily, amazed.  
  
"Isn't he cool?" laughed James.  
  
"Well, it's really not that hard, you know," mumbled Sirius, pretending to be modest. "I mean, look at her. Beady black eyes, short and stocky, the squarest jaw I've ever seen-she even walks with her chin up!"  
  
"I still don't get it," sighed Lily.  
  
"Oh well. Takes practice, I'm sure, if you're not born with the knack."  
  
"Are you a pureblood, then?" she asked, proud of herself for remembering this time.  
  
"Nah. Just half. James here's pure, though."  
  
"How about you?" asked James.  
  
"Muggle-born. Very Muggle-born," she added, thinking of her all-too average family. For some reason, this sent Sirius and James into fits of laughter, and unavailable for chat at the moment, so Lily was more turned to the sorting ceremony, where Verrin, Elise, was being sorted.  
  
"Another Gryffindor!" said loudly to Sirius and James, causing them to stop their laugher for a bit to study the new arrival, with her stick-straight, light brown hair and hazel eyes. She was joined halfway to the table by Sarah and Lucy Heidt, who immediately struck up a subject with her and sat down in a new place a bit further down the table, as the twins' previous spaces had been filled by a few guilty-looking stragglers who had walked in late.  
  
Then Vultan, Emily, became a Slytherin, Warbel, Colin, became a Hufflepuff, and Williams, Erin, became a Gryffindor, and the long roll of names was folded up and shoved away into a robe pocket, the hat was rested on the stool once more, and the stool was taken from the room.   
  
"Time for Dumbledore's little tidbit now," whispered Sirius knowingly. It looked as though he'd just been eavesdropping on the Heidt twins' talk with Elise.  
  
James pointed at the teacher's table, where a man whose hair was just beginning to turn white had stood up, grinning hugely at his students.  
  
"Hello again," he cried jovially, "and welcome to another new and exciting year at Hogwarts! And as I know you're all quite famished, why don't I make this short and to the point?"  
  
"Bravo, man," muttered Sirius.  
  
"Klinkworth, Michelobe, Idodd, Blink! Now enjoy the feast!"  
  
"Amen," murmured James, picking up his knife and fork.   
  
Lily was so deep in confusion at the man's words that she didn't notice that the previously empty plates in front of her were suddenly heaped with some of the most luscious food she'd ever seen. Roasted chicken, pepper-crusted steak, six different types of potatoes, filet of sole, smoked salmon with lemon and toast-the list was endless, not to mention the dishes full of foods she'd never seen before.  
  
"Well, what are you waiting for?" asked James with a grin. "Dig in."  
  
Lily did so, filling her plate with every which dish, until it was overflowing. Jamming it all into her mouth as fast as she could, she let her eyes wander down the table over everyone else's equally full plates. And then-an empty one? Curious, she looked up at the person whose plate it was.  
  
She gasped audibly. It wasn't a person at all!  
  
"Yes, I'm a ghost," it chuckled, seeing the flabbergasted look that lay upon her face. "I take it from the way you're staring at me right now I'm the first you've seen, too."  
  
"I-I'm so sorry. I didn't realize I was staring, or I never would have--"  
  
"Oh, it's quite all right, dear. Happens all the time. Rather amusing, actually. Anyway, the name's Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington, resident ghost of Gryffindor tower. Have been for quite some time now, actually. A few hundred years, at least."  
  
"Lily Jenkins," she said, trying her best to keep the surprise out of her voice. "Are you the only ghost?"  
  
"In Gryffindor tower, yes. But there are hundreds of us in the castle. See over there, at the Hufflepuff table? That's the Fat Friar. Jolly sort of fellow, quite friendly. And the Ravenclaw ghost's the Grey Lady; you can just glimpse her over by that awfully tall fellow. She's a grand one, and barely opens her mouth without a few words of deep wisdom issuing forth from it. And the Slytherin ghost, who I don't think you can see from here, is the Bloody Baron. Give me the shivers every time I see him. Of course, he's awfully useful to have around. The only one who can control Peeves, you know. The resident poltergeist."  
  
"Oh." Lily wished she could think of something else to say, but somehow, all words were failing her, so Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington turned to the boy sitting next to him.  
  
By that time, Sirius and James had introduced themselves to Remus and Peter, and the four of them were talking unconcernedly to each other, looking as though they'd forgotten they weren't the only ones at the table. And as Erin Williams had now joined in the older boy's conversation with the ghost, she finished her meal in peace, mind whirling as she tried to recollect all the past events of the day.  
  
  
  
  
Later, after another, more serious speech from Dumbledore warning them not to go near the Forbidden Forest, and a rousing rendition of the school song (which Lily sang to the tune of "Happy Birthday to You", for lack of a better idea), the Gryffindors were led to their tower by a blonde prefect with matted hair, told the password (twinkle), and sent up to bed.  
  
"Didn't realize how tired I was," yawned Lucy, climbing into her four-poster, which was farthest from the door.  
  
Lily, in fact, had just noticed the same thing, and started to hurry and finish unpacking her things.  
  
"It's wonderful here, though," murmured Elise dreamily, brushing through her smooth hair.  
  
"Isn't it?" asked Sarah, pulling the covers back on her bed, which was in between Lucy's and Elise's. "I mean, we've heard so much about it from Anita and Nick, but it's still not quite the same as actually being here. I like the ceiling in the great hall best."  
  
"It's really something, isn't it?" agreed Erin.  
  
"Now everybody be quiet, I'm about to fall asleep," said Lucy sharply, pulling the curtains closed around herself.  
  
One by one, the new Gryffindors did the same, Lily last of all. As she laid her pillow flat, Sarah's snores could already be heard from across the oval-shaped room. She smiled to herself. It was odd, but even though it was just her first day here, she already felt somewhat at home. Somehow, it was hard to miss her neat little light blue house with the white shutters when you were surrounded by grandeur every step you took. And she'd seen more amazing things in a day than she'd seen in the rest of her life put together.  
  
Slowly, her mind submitted itself to the bliss of thoughtless sleep, and she felt her eyelids getting steadily heavier. The last things she was aware of before beginning to snore slightly herself was a complete sense of warm belonging, and an anxiousness to get up the next day.  
***  
  
Finis! Well, part one at least. Much more to come. I planned to cover a lot more in this part, but I kind of like the way it turned out, and it wouldn't really fit to add more in yet. I might have gotten a few minor facts wrong, like hair or eye color, and maybe you don't agree with me about what houses the characters should be in, but this is fanfiction, and it's okay to mess things up a little if you have a vision. Or at least that's what I think, and I just want you to know that I don't really care if some stuff is slightly off, so I don't really want to hear about it. Anyway, it's my birthday today, so give me a birthday present and write some nice reviews!  



	2. The Start

Here's part 2! It's very different from part one, but I hope it's still good! Anyway, I apologize for the title, as it's a bit redundant, but it's the only thing that really fit. Now read!  
  


At the Beginning Part II  
The Start  
*  
No one told me  
I was going to find you  
Unexpected  
What you did to my heart  
When I lost hope  
You were there to remind me  
This is the start  
*  


  
"That's NOT funny!" shrieked Lucy, going a shade of deep red. "Those things hurt, you two!"  
  
"Come on Lucy," cooed Elise Soothingly, "We'll get you up to Madame Pomfrey. And maybe, if we hear a good explanation when we come back, we won't have to tell her what happened."  
  
Lily seriously doubted they'd hear anything of the sort, from the proud way in which Sirius and James were chuckling as Lucy and Elise got up to leave the breakfast table. They'd just replaced Lucy's real teacup with a nose-biting one they'd purchased by mail order, and the results had been quite to their liking.  
  
"It really isn't that funny, you know," said Lily, feeling it was her duty as a girl of Gryffindor and a friend of Lucy's to say something. "What has she ever done to you anyway?"  
  
"Nothing," said Sirius rather too casually, which had the effect of making him look more evil than ever.  
  
"It's a person's duty to make life hard for the ones they love," added James.  
  
"Besides, Lily, I can tell that you're not that offended anyway, so don't even try that I'd-never-try-that look. I caught you giggling, young lady."  
  
"Ooh, sometimes I think Remus is the only boy around with any sense at all! Oh, and you Peter, of course." Lily added the last part in as an afterthought. It was so easy to forget little Peter, who seemed to make a point of walking around in the other three's shadows, James and Sirius in particular. Besides, in truth, she really didn't think Peter was clever at all. He was extremely forgetful, and hadn't made it through a single class yet without making a mistake. And they were about a month and a half into the school year.  
  
"Oh, I dunno," said James, helping himself to around his fourth hot roll, and proceeding to smother it with butter, cream cheese, and several different flavors of jam. "Sometimes I think Remus is pretty loony too."  
  
"By the way, how's your mother, old boy?" asked Sirius, giving Remus one of his amazingly rare truly sympathetic looks.  
  
"M-my mother?" stuttered Remus. "OH, my mother! Oh, she's recovering quickly now, thank you. Er, not quite out of danger yet, of course, but th-the doctor said she's making some-progress."  
  
Having said that, his eyes darted hastily down to his plate, and he began cutting his sausage almost mechanically.  
  
"His mother?" Lily mouthed soundlessly across the table to James, as Sirius had left the table in search of the milk jug.  
  
"She was sick," James whispered, leaning halfway across the table so Remus wouldn't hear any of their conversation. It was a rather touchy subject with him, as he'd found out the hard way. "Really sick, so he had to go and see her. He was gone for a few days a week or two ago, don't you remember?"  
  
Come to think of it, Lily had noticed that Remus had been missing from a few of their classes, but she hadn't given it a second thought. "I thought he was with Madame Pomfrey, I suppose. Oh well. I'm sorry for him."  
  
"But don't bring it up," James warned. "He gets all weird, and he stutters, and turns sort of pink. There you are, Sirius! Did you remember to bring me a glass?"  
  
"Here's one for you," said Sirius, surveying the three glasses of milk he'd brought from the Ravenclaw table. "And one for-how about one for Peter?"  
  
"Uh-oh-what did you put in it this time, Sirius?" Lily recognized that maniacal sparkle in his dark eyes.  
  
"Oh, nothing horrible. Just a bit of hiccupping powder. Ah, our little Peter. James is right: it's one's duty as a person to hurt the ones you love just a little bit..."  
***  
  
"Now would you please pipe down class? We're ten minutes into the lesson already, and we're supposed to be working on bloating potions, which is rather difficult and time consuming! Please!"  
  
Lily exchanged glances Erin Williams. The two were sitting towards the back of the class, which happened to be Potions with the Slytherins, their second most tedious class (History of Magic being the first, of course). The scene in front of them was all-too-familiar. Several students were in disarray, tripping and falling over each other in a vain struggle to place themselves in seats as far away as possible from the dung bomb that had just been dropped by an anonymous first-year in the front of the room. Professor Gingold was standing on the chair behind her desk, waving her arms furiously in an attempt to calm her students. While an extremely nice person, it was agreed throughout the school that she was hopeless when it came to handling her classes.  
  
"It's all right now, really!" cried the flustered Professor, her hair slipping out of its braid and clinging to her damp face. "It's stopped smelling now, anyway, as I've already poured the quenchius potion over it! There now, that's a good class. You can come sit over here, Peter, by my desk, if you can't find another seat."  
  
"Tha-hic-nk y-hic-you, Pro-hic-fessor."  
  
The Slytherin side of the room erupted with laughter, and even a few of the Gryffindors giggled as well. A few of the girls, anyway, thought it made up in a small way for Lucy's treatment that morning. Lily turned around to glare at James and Sirius, who were sitting with Remus directly behind her. All three were looking rather smug. James noticed her and winked. The whole scene made her feel uneasy. She was sure they were plotting something or other.  
  
"You'll be working in groups of three today-well, we'll need one group of four. Oh no you don't, you three," said Professor Gingold in what would have been a sharp if she had been anyone else, jolting her red head toward James, Sirius, and Remus. "I'm not having a repetition of last week's exploding cauldron, or the previous week's 'We didn't mean to give Severus that extra nose-it's so big as it is we wouldn't dream of adding some on-next week we'll try and reduce the size, how would that be?' No, I'm assigning your partners. Black, you work with the twins. Lupin, you can work with Tenmarr and Ellowit."  
  
Lupin paled a bit at this. Madison Tenmarr and Jonathan Ellowit were both Slytherins, and had known each other for a long time. It was one of the greatest joys in their life to be alone with one other person they knew they could bully, and Remus knew he fit that description.  
  
"And Potter-she looked around at the classroom, where many students had already huddled together. "If Peter works with Elise and Erin, and-all right. Potter, you can be one of my foursome. Pair with Jenkins, Nott, and Snape."  
  
Lily stared at her professor. Was she mad? Everyone knew that James and Severus Snape were worst enemies. They'd never spoken so much as one word to each other unless it was part of a particularly snide insult. She turned around to look at James, who also looked incredulous.  
  
"Well, get to work, everyone!"  
  
"We'd better get this over with, then," muttered Lily, as she and James gathered up their things to move across the room to where Snape and Nott, a mousy-looking boy with pale skin and a smug expression, sat sitting in wait, neither of them looking too happy with the arrangement either.  
  
"Ok, here's the deal," whispered James, softly but firmly upon reaching their other partners. "You don't say anything to us, and we won't say anything to you. We'll cover the first half of the ingredients list, up to the shredded roots. You take the second half. And then we'll all just dump it in and stir."  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Fine. I wouldn't speak to you if you paid me, Potter."  
  
"Shut up, Snape."  
  
"Come on, you two. Shut up and stop bickering!" Lily pushed the beetles towards Nott and Snape to quiet them down, and hurriedly handed James the knife so he could start dicing the roots. She herself took to prying the wings off the flies that lay in piles before her.  
  
"Can you believe her, putting us with them?" James muttered angrily to her, dicing his roots heedlessly, causing them to be uneven and messy.   
  
"We'll just have to live with it. It's only one class, after all."  
  
"I know what you're thinking, Lily. I'll be good, I promise."  
  
"Good."  
  
"Unless he starts something."  
  
"James!"  
  
"What, do you expect me to just stand here while he makes fun of all my friends? Sirius for being a half-blood, Peter for being awkward, Remus for being...well...Remus. Can't explain that one. But he's the most horrible person I've ever met, I'm sure!"  
  
"Just ignore him..."  
  
James snorted, but didn't say anything else for a little while.  
  
"Pass me the leeches, please, Severus."  
  
"Get them yourself, Mudblood."  
  
Lily sensed, rather than saw, James' face going red. "Don't say anything," she prayed quietly. "Please don't let him say anything."  
  
"Here, I'll get them," she muttered softly, after a few dreadfully tense moments.  
  
"Don't." James sounded calm and quite determined.  
  
"It's really okay, James, it's not a problem..."  
  
"Don't you dare, Lily. He refused a perfectly reasonable request on your part. He insulted you in one of the worst ways without any provocation. He's completely able to pick up the leeches, and pass them to you. They're right near him anyway."  
  
"No, James, please don't make a big deal out of this..."  
  
'No, Muggle scum. He believes he has a perfectly good point. Perhaps he does. I'm interested in seeing how he's going to make me."  
  
"Don't go there, Snape," warned James, dropping his dicing knife and forgetting about the potion, which the rest of them had done a while back.   
  
"What are you going to do to me, Mr. Muggle-lover Potty?"  
  
"Why I'm going to--"  
  
He stopped in mid-sentence and whipped out his wand, shouting something Lily couldn't quite distinguish. Snape, between sneezing fits, grabbed his wand out of his pocket, and began yelling at James. Soon, the two of them were sneezing, coughing, scratching, dancing, and tumbling all over the room, amid the screams of several students and the ever-present smirk of Anthony Nott.   
  
Lily clapped a hand to her forehead and sunk down under the desk. Why did James always have to be the hero?   
  
"Stop this! Stop this madness at once! Finite Incantum!" screamed Professor Gingold, climbing up onto her chair once more and pointing her wand all over the room, jumbling up all her spells and ending up giving several students half-body binds and jelly-legs, including Severus and James themselves. This did have the effect, however, of stopping the ruckus.  
  
"You," she gasped, pointing at James, "and you," she added, moving her finger to Severus, "to the hospital wing, now. I'll deal with punishment later. And the rest of you can go too. The room's too much of a mess to continue with your potions." She looked around miserably.  
  
Cauldrons, desks, and chairs were scattered all over the room; upside-down and out of place. Ingredients were strewn all over the floor, and several puddles of things that didn't quite mix were exploding right and left. There was a mass attempt at evacuation, causing several students to be trampled on their way out. Quickly as she could, Lily squeezed through the classes and out of the door.  
***  
  
Months had passed since the unfortunate series of events in Potions class, and Christmas had come upon the school like a tidal wind, blowing the majority of the school away. Lily, however, had decided to stay, as her parents would be visiting Muggle relatives in North Ireland with Petunia, and she wasn't quite up to going back to Muggle life. The rest of the Gryffindor girls had gone home, however, so she was left at the castle with Peter, James, and Sirius. Remus had gone home for the holidays early, in fact, as his aunt was dying and wished to see him before she was gone.  
  
"-and during Astronomy that night, when there was a half-moon..."  
  
"Shut UP, Peter," whispered Sirius harshly, spotting Lily, who had just looked up at them from her chair in the common room by the fire.   
  
"Oh, hullo, Lily!" said Peter brightly, stumbling on the very last step down from the boys' dormitory.   
  
"Merry Christmas, Peter," she smiled, looking up from the copy of Witch Weekly Elise had lent her last week.   
  
"Not quite yet," correct Sirius, lowering himself into an armchair nearby. "Merry Christmas Eve, more like."  
  
"Well then, Merry Christmas Eve, Peter."  
  
"What time's the feast tonight, anyway?"  
  
"Can't you think of anything but your stomach, Sirius? But it's at eight," answered James, looking into the fire.  
  
"It's 8:20."  
  
"No, it's not, it's at eight."  
  
"No, I mean, it's 8:20 right now."  
  
"I wondered why it was so quiet in here," declared James, jumping out of his chair as though he'd just been electrocuted. "Let's go then, I'm starving!"  
  
"Can't you think of anything but your stomach, James?" Sirius yelled after him, darting out of the room as well.  
***  
  
Either the feast that night was the best one Lily had ever had at Hogwarts, or she was just starving.   
  
"It must be both," she decided, as she ambled back toward Gryffindor's common room later that night. She was alone, as James, Sirius, and Peter had left very hurriedly halfway into the feast, without any sort of an explanation. She wasn't very curious as to the reason, though: the boys were always planning something.  
  
"I'm just glad I'm on their good side," she said out loud. "Oh-rose water."  
  
The portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress swung open, Lily climbed inside the common room, expecting to see the three boys huddled in a corner, discussing their newest scheme. However, they were nowhere to be seen.   
  
"Odd," she said aloud again, enjoying the emptiness of the room and reveling in the ability to talk to yourself without having older children stare at you. "But they'll come down soon enough," she convinced herself, and once more, picked up Elise's magazine.  
  
They didn't come down. Lily read, and read, and read some more, but there was no sound of anybody save a few fifth year girls whose giggles from upstairs blew through the grates in the common room.   
  
At first, Lily wasn't worried. After all, James and Sirius were smart, and perfectly able to handle themselves in all sorts of situations. Not, of course, that anything bad could be happening to them at all. No, Hogwarts was perfectly safe. Wasn't it? She was pretty sure. But that wasn't exactly sure.   
  
"Oh bother!" she said aloud again. "If they're not going to come down to me, I'll just have to go up to them!"  
  
Admittedly nervous now, Lily crept up the stairs to the boys' dormitories. She wasn't exactly sure which one was theirs, having never been up here, so she pressed her ear to one of the doors. When she didn't hear anything, so she moved on to the next one, again without any luck. From behind the third door, however, voices could be heard, talking low and fixedly.   
  
"No, we can't ask for help, Peter, are you mad? We're not supposed to be doing anything like this at all! We'd get in huge trouble. We can't tell anyone."  
  
Lily recognized the voice as belonging to Sirius.   
  
"Not even the new Transfiguration teacher? She's head of out house, you know--"  
  
"No one, Peter."  
  
"Not even--"  
  
"No, James, not even Lily," said Sirius, cutting him off in mid-sentence.  
  
"But we'll tell Remus, won't we?"  
  
"No, Peter, we won't tell Remus." It was James' voice this time. "He'd try to stop us. And it's for his own good."  
  
"I really don't know if this is such a good idea."  
  
"Don't chicken out, Peter! We need to be in this together!" Sirius sounded almost desperate.  
  
"It's just that...what if--"  
  
"Don't even start that, Peter. There are too many what ifs that I'm sure we'd all burst if we went though the whole list."  
  
"Besides, we're better off focusing on the positive side of the thing, rather than the negative," chimed in James' voice.  
  
"So we're all in, then?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Er-all right, yes! Just don't look at me like that, Sirius, it makes me nervous."  
  
A distinctly Sirius snort reached Lily's ears.  
  
"I just wish we could tell Lily," muttered James.  
  
Lily began to creep away from the door, and over to her dormitory. She didn't approve of most of the things her mischievous friends did, but this sounded particularly morbid. Still, she didn't suppose there was anything she could do, as they didn't listen to her much anyway, and they sounded set on this. She'd forget about it for tonight, at least, and get some much-needed sleep.  
***  
  
"Aren't you going to wake up?"  
  
A loud, familiar voice woke Lily from her sleep.   
  
"I'm dying to see what she got already," said another familiar voice.  
  
She yawned and opened her eyes to see James bending over her, a predominantly impatient look upon his face.  
  
"Well it's about time!" he cried, grabbing her arm and yanking her up. "We've been waiting here for ages, sleepy-head."  
  
"We've already opened all our presents," said Peter glumly, walking over to stand next to James. "It was almost like you were teasing us with all your unopened packages."  
  
"Here, do this one first," said Sirius, tossing her a rectangular package in bright orange wrapping.  
  
Lily reached for it and undid the purple bow, prying the card loose from the tape that bound it.  
  
"You actually bother with those things?" cried James incredulously.   
  
"Mental," muttered Sirius, with a good-natured smile.  
  
"Here, let me help you with that," said James, leaping onto the bed and tearing at the orange paper almost hungrily. "It's-a green dress robe? Who on Earth'd give you that?"  
  
"It's from Elise," said Lily indignantly, "and I think it's lovely."  
  
"But what's the use of something like that?" asked Peter, confused.  
  
"What does it matter?" asked Sirius impatiently. "Try this one next."  
  
He shoved a little red box into the hands. She simply removed the card this time, and opened the box, to reveal a pair of little rosette earrings.   
  
"How sweet!" she cooed, "If only I had my ears pierced. Well, it wasn't something she really would have noticed, anyway."  
  
"Boy, your friends sure give you weird gifts," said Peter.  
  
"Who was that one from?" inquired James.  
  
"Kelsey Dayton. A Hufflepuff," she added, seeing the confused faces around her. "I met her on the train, and she sort of helped me get used to the concept of coming here-I forgot to get her something! I'm sure I'll find something, though, and she won't be back from her holiday for another week or so. Hand me that flimsy pink one over there, would you, Sirius?"  
  
She tore at the wrapping to reveal a pink and white book, with the words "The Girl's Guide to the Oddness of the Opposite Gender" flashing across it.  
  
"Now that's a weird one," said Sirius, and James and Peter nodded their heads in unison.   
  
"Well, the Heidt twins are weird. Oh, look, they left a dedication! Dear Lily: Lucy and I bought this to try and see if we could figure out James, Sirius, and company. We failed miserably. Hope you have more luck! Love, Sarah."  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
"Who do those girls think they are, anyway? It's bad enough that there are more girls than boys in Gryffindor this year, anyway. What do they have to go and rub it in for?"  
  
Lily shrugged. "What's next?"   
  
"Here, open Peter's-it's this yellow bag with the white tissue paper."  
  
"It's-Every Flavour Beans! Thank you, Peter, there's been a shocking lack of them around the castle lately. Let me open yours now, Sirius."  
  
Sirius' gift turned out to be a set of jokes from Gambol and Japes, in Diagon Alley.   
  
"I figured you could use some practice, if you're ever planning on catching up to us," he said with a cackle.  
  
James had bought her several pieces of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, a few liquorice wands, and a huge package of chocolate frogs.  
  
"I remembered that time we talked about which wizard cards we had and didn't have, so I opened all the frogs at the shop to make sure they were new. They would have been awfully mad if they found out, but they never did," he told her, a bit shyly.  
  
Lily gave her thanks profusely, before picking up the last package.   
  
"It's from Remus," she told them, opening it to reveal a little silver picture frame.   
  
"Well, Remus was always a bit off his rocker," mused Sirius, leaning back against the wall.   
  
"Yeah, well--"  
  
"Is there anything you want to tell me?" interjected Lily. She'd just remembered the conversation she'd overheard last night, and was suddenly more curious than ever.  
  
"How'd you--"  
  
Peter was silenced by a sharp kick in the shins from Sirius.  
  
"Er-no, not really," he mumbled. "Why d'you ask?"  
  
"Oh, no reason," Lily lied, not really wanting to tell them she'd been eavesdropping.  
  
"Right-er, breakfast, then?" asked James nervously, shifting from one foot to the other.  
  
"Oh, uh, yes, of course," said Sirius, taking either James' or Peter's arms in either of his hands, and beginning to move in the direction of the door. "We'll meet you down there, Lily, as soon as you're dressed. Bye."  
  
And they slammed the door hurriedly behind them.  
***  
  
The days passed by pleasantly, turning into weeks as they went, and then months. Easter vacation came and went, with the finals following its footsteps. And then, some time before Lily expected it and far before she felt at all ready, all trunks were packed, goodbyes were said, and the students were packed on the Hogwarts Expressed to be taken home.   
  
She sat herself in a compartment along with Sirius, James, Peter, Remus, and the Heidt twins. Nobody spoke much for the first part of the trip. They all just watched the countryside whiz by, and Hogwarts disappear into the distance. Later, though, they began to travel through woods, and the view was much less pleasant, if more melancholy, so the twins set up a game of exploding snap for themselves on the floor, and Sirius challenged Remus to a game of wizard chess.  
  
"Oh come on, Lily, you're coming back next year," said James finally, after a long bout of uncomfortable silence, even though he didn't look so thrilled himself.  
  
"Oh, I know. But it's different for you. You're part of a wizarding family. You're around magic all the time. I'm going to have to live like a Muggle all summer if I'm going to keep the neighbors from noticing and Petunia from avoiding me."  
  
"At least you have a Petunia. I'm the only child in my whole family. I don't even have cousins, because my dad was an only child too, and son of an only child, at that. My mum's only brother died ages ago."  
  
"Well, then let's stop talking about how miserable we are. Agreed?"   
  
"Agreed. Besides-I suppose I'm not as miserable as I've convinced myself I am. Gobstones?"  
  
"Oh, yes please."  
  
"What's that paper?" asked Peter suddenly, pointing to a bit of parchment on the floor next to where James and Lily had set up their game.  
  
"It's-a bit of newspaper," James announced.  
  
"Must've blown in from the station," shrugged Lucy, going back to her game.  
  
"What's it say?" asked Sarah. She was presently squirted in the face.  
  
"It's about a disappearance."  
  
"Ooh, how mysterious!" said Sirius excitedly.  
  
"Checkmate!" said Remus.  
  
"Some boy, about nineteen, went off on holiday alone and didn't come back."  
  
"Creepy," whispered Sirius, picking up his king and moving it out of Remus' path.  
  
"I guess," said Peter, shrugging off the subject.  
  
"So what are you all planning to do this summer?" asked James, forgetting the proposed game of gobstones and dropping the newspaper article.  
  
"Holidaying in France," muttered Peter. "I'm scared of Frenchmen."  
  
"You're scared of everyone, Peter," corrected Sirius.  
  
"We're going to spend most of the summer in America." Sarah smiled superiorly. "Nick just got a job there, and we're going to help him get settled in."  
  
"Well, I'll be at home," sighed Remus.  
  
"Welcome to our midst," James whispered spookily.   
  
"I don't know about me-a bit of this and a bit of that, I suppose. Same as always."  
  
"There are worse things," Lily scolded.  
  
"I reckon so."  
  
  
  
  
The last bit of the ride was passed in relative peace, and without any intrusions. And then, the train reached London, and began to move more slowly, and more, until finally it stopped dead on the track of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.  
  
"Three at a time!" cried a short, balding old man as the students clambered off of the train and through the barrier. "Only three! Hey, you there! I didn't say four, I said three!"  
  
"Shall we?" asked Sarah with a smile, taking Lily's arm in one of her own, and Lucy's in the other. Together, they walked through the barrier, and found themselves once again in the Muggle world.   
  
"Lily!"   
  
"Mum!"   
  
"Have you got all your things with you, dear?"  
  
Lily nodded.  
  
"Then let's move! Oh, Lily, it's so good to have you back. Your father can't wait to see you. Er...Petunia either."  
  
"All right then, Mum, I'll be right there."  
  
She broke loose from her mother and darted through the crowds of people.   
  
"There you are!" she exclaimed at last. "I came to say goodbye. We won't see each other for a few months, you know."  
  
"Right. Er, bye then, Lily. It was really nice to meet you this year and all."  
  
"Right. G'bye, James. See you next year, I suppose."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Mmm."  
  
"Bye."  
  
"Bye!" Lily turned around and rushed back to her mother.  
  
"Lily!"  
  
She turned around to see James behind her.  
  
"Th-there's something on your shoe."  
  
"Oh, thank you."  
  
"Right. Just thought you should know."  
  
"Yes, well, I'll see you next year!"  
  
And with a last smile, James ran back to his parents, who engulfed him in a mass of arms.  
  
Lily clasped her mother's right hand in her left, and walked from the station, pausing only once to detach the article about the disappearance from the bottom of her shoe.  
***  
  
So...this part was very different. Eleven pages on Word to describe Lily and James' entire first year at Hogwarts (excluding the Sorting Ceremony). Things are going to slow down a bit in the later years (I'm planning 11 parts, total, but that's subject to change), but the first couple of years aren't really that important, so I'm just zipping through them with the more essential incidents.   
Anyway, I'm pretty sure you all understood the whole Sirius/Peter/James conversation Lily happened to hear, even if she didn't herself, so I won't say anything about that.   
I couldn't resist the bit of foreshadowing at the end. Do y'all get it? I hope so.   
If you're desperate for a disclaimer, see part 1 of the story.  



	3. Of Life

At long last! It's here! Really and truly! Year two (or at least what you need to know about it). I actually like this part-there's not much, but what there is is important and (hopefully) interesting. And since you know I can't write a story without saying 'luv ya', I'm going to right now-luv ya!  
  


At the Beginning Part III  
Of Life  
  
*  
Life is a road  
And I wanna keep going  
Love is a river  
And I wanna keep flowing  
Life is a road  
Now and forever  
Wonderful Journey  
*  


  
Lily Jenkins breathed deeply, letting the crisp September air invade her nostrils. It was so wonderful to be back at Hogwarts, walking through the grounds with her friends, all of whom she'd missed very much over the holidays. It was the first Saturday of the new term, and they'd decided to spend it outside, as far away as possible from homework and teachers.  
  
"You should have seen his face-red as a beet!" exclaimed Sarah Heidt excitedly, jumping a bit into the air.  
  
"I love it when Snape gets mad," sighed Sirius happily. "That was an awfully good tickling spell, too."  
  
"Nothing could mean more than a compliment from the very master himself."  
  
"Aw, shucks, Sarah, you're making me blush."  
  
Remus rolled his eyes.  
  
"I have yet to find the words that would make Sirius Black blush at all. He is the most far from modest person I have ever met," declared James.  
  
"Oh, I don't know about that, James. It doesn't seem to me that you're particularly shy yourself," smirked Lily, bringing herself back down to Earth.  
  
"And why should I be?" he asked indignantly.  
  
She sent a glare of mock annoyance his way, and he smiled.  
  
"Quidditch trials are next Tuesday, you know," said Erin Williams after a few moments of silence.   
  
"I marked that day down in my calendar-er-days ago," announced Sirius. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."  
  
"Me either," Sarah said, brushing an orange leaf that had drifted into her brown pigtail braids. "Lucy and I want to be Beaters."  
  
"Don't reckon we'll have much of a chance," said James gloomily. "They don't usually like more than one second year at the most on a team, and there's only one spot open, too. It'll probably go to some sixth or seventh year, anyway."  
  
"You're trying out then, James?" inquired Remus, ignoring his far from happy outlook on the situation.  
  
"Yeah. Flying's sort of a hobby of mine."  
  
"You're lucky," remarked Lily. "I'm horrible at it. I'd never been on a broomstick in my life before last year, and the lessons turned out to be somewhat of a joke as far as I was concerned. It used to be torture. Samantha Vaughn, that Slytherin girl who's constantly tagging behind Severus, would make fun of me until I wanted to give up on flying and use my broomstick to give her a good beating instead!"  
  
"Would've served her right, too," grimaced Erin. "She turned my cat, Winkies, green! She's still not back to her original black, too. Doubt she ever will be."  
  
"Maybe I could help you with her," suggested Sarah. "I managed to turn Crinkles orange again after Peter spilled that potion of his on her. Poor thing."  
  
"Peter or the cat?" asked Sirius, with a grin.  
  
"By the way, where is Peter?" asked Lily offhandedly, hugging her robes more tightly around her in defense to the sharp autumn wind.  
  
"McGonagall gave him detention, remember?" said Sirius. "For forgetting to do his homework three days in a row."  
  
"He really is hopeless," sighed James.  
  
Lily opened her mouth to protest, but immediately shut it again with a smile. "Very."  
***  
  
"Choin, choin...choin!"  
  
"No, no, no. Chocolate."  
  
"With cherries and whipped cream, too."  
  
"Choin, choin...choin!"  
  
"You stupid ape, you're spilling the--"  
  
"Parsley all over the place!"  
  
"Choin, choin...choin!"  
  
Lily groaned rather loudly, half hoping that she would wake one of her roommates who were all (with the exception of Erin, who had fallen asleep in the bathtub that night), either snoring quite loudly, or talking in their sleep. Sarah and Lucy kept finishing each other's sentences. She had heard twins could do that. While an interesting thought during the day, it only kept Lily awake at night.  
  
Suddenly, there was a creak, and Lily's eyes shot in the direction of the door. No one had come into the room. A new idea struck her, and she turned towards the bathroom, in case Erin had finally woken up. But the bathroom light was still off, and the door still closed.  
  
Confused, but too drowsy to really care at all, Lily dropped her head onto her goose feather pillow, and closed her eyes.  
  
A hand clapped over her mouth. Lily opened her eyes wide, too startled to even try to scream. No one was standing above her. But the hand was still over her mouth.  
  
And then, she heard a giggle. Not a girlish giggle, like the way Elise sounded when she laughed, but a lower, more mischievous giggle. A giggle she knew.  
  
"James?"  
  
The giggling grew louder, and all of a sudden, James Potter popped into view, both of his hands now at his own mouth, trying to stifle the laughter coming out of it for fear of waking one of the other Gryffindor girls.  
  
"James-who--"  
  
"Come on, I'm taking you somewhere."  
  
"James Potter, it's midnight! Are you insane?"  
  
"Probably. You're going anyway. Get up."  
  
Against her own better judgment, Lily pushed herself out of bed and stumbled over to the giant wooden wardrobe to get herself a cloak.  
  
"No need." James was smiling a knowing, annoying, and somehow endearing smile. Quickly, and certainly before Lily knew what had happened, he lifted his hands and his head disappeared.  
  
This time, Lily almost did scream. James was just standing a few feet away from her, cool as a cucumber, without a head. She shuddered.  
  
"What happened? Are you okay?"  
  
Suddenly, James' head came back into view.   
  
"Perfectly. It's an invisibility cloak, you see," he added when it was apparent that Lily wasn't going to say anything, with a little exasperated sigh as though it should have been obvious.  
  
"An invisibility cloak? Oh, great Gryffindor, James, aren't those extremely rare? I mean like, really extremely?"  
  
"Yep." James looked quite pleased with himself. "Coming?"  
  
"Is it safe?"  
  
"Honestly, Lily!" whispered James rather loudly, turning his eyes towards the white ceiling. "Of course it's safe! It's just a cloak. Go on, come under!"  
  
Cautiously, Lily approached James, who immediately threw the cloak on top of her, before coming under himself. He squirmed a little bit. He was used to being under there with Sirius, Remus, and Peter, but it was somehow different from sharing the tiny space with a girl.  
***  
Knock, knock, knock.  
  
"Who's there?"  
  
Lily giggled quietly under James' cloak. It sounded just like a Muggle joke.  
  
"It's James."  
  
The door swung open to reveal the biggest man Lily had ever seen in her life. His hairy head almost reached the ceiling of the smallish hut.   
  
James shook off the invisibility cloak.   
  
"Hagrid, this is my friend, Lily Jenkins. Lily, this is Rubeus Hagrid."  
  
Lily felt her hand being engulfed by one much bigger than her own. Hagrid's dark eyes twinkled down at her, and her heart melted towards the giant, but seemingly harmless and sweet man.  
  
"Call me Hagrid. Everyone does. I'm the keeper of the grounds here at Hogwarts."  
  
"Very pleased to meet you."  
  
"Come in, then." Hagrid motioned to them with a wave of his (giant) hand.  
  
Lily followed James through the wooden door, and into the hut. There, seated around a circular table also of wood, were Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. Sirius jumped up and walked quickly over to James, and the two of them quickly began whispering to each other, occasionally mouthing things to Remus and Peter, who mutely sipped from mugs of green tea.  
  
"Can I get yeh something?" Hagrid's booming voice echoed a little bit.  
  
"Just some tea, please."  
  
"So it's your first time here, huh?" asked Remus, as Lily settled herself into an empty chair that had been pulled up to the table.  
  
"Yeah...do you come here often?"  
  
Remus' smile grew a little bit wider.  
  
"All the time. Hagrid's really great, and it's nice to get away from the school sometimes. It gets hard to breathe."  
  
Lily smiled back at Remus. It was so nice to hear him talk for once. He was usually so quiet, and the only people he truly opened up to were the other Gryffindor boys. But the more she knew of him, the more she liked him.  
  
"Hey Peter!" Sirius' voice rang from across the room. "Any specific jokes you'd like to order for your revenge on Snape for taunting you for the whole three hours you were forced to clean trophies last week?"  
  
Peter squirmed a little in his seat. "No, not really. You guys can pick."  
  
"Oh, Peter," whined James. "If we're always telling you what to do, you'll never get to be a truly great player of jokes. Remember, practice makes perfect."  
  
"Oh, all right, then. How about-how about bubble breathing orange juice?"  
  
"We've done that already. But I suppose it'll do."  
  
James motioned for Sirius to scribble something on a pad of paper that looked remarkably like a grocery list, although Lily was sure it was something considerably more sinister.  
  
"Here yeh go. Toffee?"   
  
Lily smiled politely and took a toffee, twisting the wrapper around in her hands.  
  
"Is everyone ready for our Herbology test on Monday?" asked James casually, ambling over to the table a few minutes later.  
  
"Decided to join the land of the living, then, James?" asked Remus with a slight smirk. Peter only groaned.  
  
"I'll never be ready in time. I'm horrible at Herbology. Just horrible. Nothing makes any sense. And if I don't get a good grade on this test, there's no way I'll pass this year, and I don't want to redo second year! Third year's when all the good stuff happens!"  
  
"Really, Peter, you'll pass. You're not really that bad at all, you just tell yourself you are."  
  
"You know what, Remus? I wish that was true."  
  
"Give yourself some credit, Peter," said Lily kindly. "You're an amazing boy inside. You can pass some little Herbology test. I'll quiz you, if you like."  
  
Peter looked up at her with huge, grateful eyes, looking as if he was experimenting to see how far his smile could stretch.  
  
A few moments of silence ensued. And then-  
  
"You'll never believe it!" James suddenly looked wide-awake and excited, as if he'd just remembered something astounding.  
  
"Try us," shrugged Sirius, looking curious, no matter how hard he was trying to hide it.  
  
"I was talking to Christopher-oh, never mind all that. The point is...I'm the new Gryffindor Seeker!" James finished dramatically, eyes darting from friend to friend, devouring their surprised reactions.  
  
"That's wonderful!" cried Lily, coughing as she choked on her tea.  
  
"You lucky scamp," muttered Sirius, pretending to look upset, but fooling no one.  
  
"That's really great fer yeh, James," said Hagrid warmly, clapping him on the back, and causing him to fall forwards a little bit.  
  
"You'll be a star, James," assured Remus.  
  
"Your flying's amazing," commented Peter, eyes wide with admiration. "Not that it's much coming from me, after seeing me fly. But you really are extraordinary."  
  
"I have my first practice on Monday. I'm so nervous. But at the same time, I can't wait."  
  
"You'll shine," grinned Sirius, and Lily nodded her head in agreement.  
***  
  
The common room was set alight by the blazes issuing forth from the fireplace. Outside, the sky was a dull, cold grey, and the black rain clouds set foreboding shadows over the grounds.   
  
Lily sat curled up in a large scarlet armchair, her Transfiguration book lying open on her lap. Elise Verrin was sitting next to her, glancing idly about the circular room and twiddling her thumbs, seemingly determined to ignore the pile of books and parchment that stood at the foot of her chair.   
  
All of a sudden, Elise's eyes lit up, and she tapped Lily vigorously on the knee.  
  
"Ow! What is it?"  
  
"Look, Lily! James and Sirius are back from the kitchens!"  
  
Sure enough, the two black-haired boys were hurrying towards the two girls, arms full of sweets. James was walking in such a way that suggested that he was dragging the invisibility cloak behind him.  
  
"What did you bring?" Elise demanded immediately, scouring the handfuls of pasties and pies. "Cauldron cakes-ooh, Pumpkin Pasties-ooh, boysenberry pies-ooh!"  
  
Sirius stood behind Elise, mimicking her every move, and causing Lily force herself to keep in her giggles. Elise was usually the calm and passive one, but she had the biggest sweet tooth out of anyone Lily knew.  
  
"You know I still don't approve of you sneaking off to the kitchens like that, even if you do have that cloak of yours, James," said Lily reprovingly, grabbing a cauldron cake and paying no attention whatsoever to the ways in which she was sounding like a hypocrite.  
  
"Well, my lady, you'll just have to live with that." He and Sirius looked at each other and nodded once.  
  
"There was something weird going on down there today, though," said Sirius thoughtfully, holding a pumpkin pasty in one hand and assuming a philosophical thinking position with the other.  
  
"Really weird. The house elves weren't half as attentive as usual," elaborated James.  
  
"I think they had some sort of guest-another house elf. But a really important one, I reckon."  
  
"No, I don't think so. I think he was telling them a story, or something like that. They were all clustered around him, hanging on his every word, but they weren't serving him or anything like that."  
  
"There's no such thing as an important house elf," declared Elise. "Not that I'm personally prejudiced against them, but they all try to think of themselves as lowly and humble. If any of them didn't, I expect they'd be thought of as the very lowest a house elf could get. We have a few, you see. But we do try to make an effort to treat them fairly."  
  
"Uh-huh. We'll just pay more attention next time we go off for some food."  
  
"Which is going to be for the post-Quidditch party, after Gryffindor whips Slytherin at the first game of the season next Saturday," said Sirius confidently. "Butterbeer, anyone?"  
  
"Let's make a toast, then," said Lily, as her mug was filled with the warm, soothing liquid, "to James, and the Gryffindor Quidditch team!"  
  
Four mugs were raised into the air, and four voices chanted, "To Gryffindor!"  
***  
  
The weather had taken a drastic turn that week, so when Saturday rolled around, it dawned bright and cheerful, as did the whole of Gryffindor house, and of Hogwarts, for that matter.  
  
Lily woke bright and early, eager to get down to the pitch. However, she found herself to be the last of the girls in her dormitory to wake. By the time she'd made her way to the bathroom, Sarah and Lucy were completely dressed, and Elise was brushing out her silky hair. Erin, she soon found out, had gone down to breakfast ten minutes ago.  
  
Ten minutes later found Lily herself down to breakfast, listening in on the twins' predictions for the game. They were animated and enthusiastic, but it was clear that they put no stock in what they were saying. After all, no one save his teammates had ever seen James Potter play.  
  
James himself was surrounded by smiling Gryffindor faces, wishing him luck and clapping him on the back. Remus and Sirius sat on either side of him, both of them coaxing him to eat a little bit of breakfast. Privately, Lily understood why her friend didn't want to eat. He looked as though he'd immediately chuck up anything he actually managed to get down. His face was turning a nasty shade of green.  
  
After what seemed like ages, the school was finally pouring out onto the Quidditch Pitch, the excitement apparent on every single one of their faces. Red and green flags were being waved in the air (the majority of them red, as most Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were anxious to see Slytherin lose, as it was rumored they had an amazing team this year).  
  
As the teams themselves came onto the pitch, there started an explosion of cheering so loud that Lily was almost sure her ears were going to explode. She spotted James, easily the smallest figure down on the ground, and she waved, although she knew he couldn't see her.  
  
Madam Hooch, a young blond woman new to the school that year, called the team captains together as Lily took her seat between Sarah Heidt and Erin Williams, with Sirius, Remus, and Peter sitting right in front. The Gryffindor captain was a sixth year named Christopher Moon, sweet and devoted to every aspect of Quidditch. The Slytherin captain was the complete opposite. A slight, disagreeable looking seventh year called Narcissa Avery; she looked as if she'd rather be in the bathroom dealing with a troublesome bowel.  
  
Moon and Avery shook hands quickly, then dropped one another as though they'd just received painful burns.  
  
"Players mount your brooms!"  
  
The whistle blew, and fifteen people shot straight up into the air. The first Quidditch game of the year had begun.  
  
"And they're off!" cried Corey Carmichael, a fifth year Ravenclaw who always did the Quidditch commentary. "Immediate possession of the Quaffle is taken by Nefernicus Smith of Slytherin, who weaves through Gryffindor's Moon and Johnson. But what's that? He's been hit by a Bludger, compliments of Henry Pritchard, and the Quaffle is taken by Moon. That's a nice duck there, oh, and what a weave! He's racing towards the goal, towards Avery of Slytherin, he shoots-GRYFFINDOR SCORE! 10-0, LIONS!"  
  
Lily clapped her hands excitedly, eyes shining. Up at the Slytherin goal posts, Narcissa Avery was hovering on her broomstick, a hand over her mouth in what looked like a deep yawn. Play resumed.  
  
"It's Brendan Wicks with the Quaffle now, moving well. He's racing towards the Gryffindor goal posts at top speed, he can throw really hard-it looks like he's going to be blocked by Johnson! But no, Johnson's been hit by a Bludger hit by Nicholas Briggs of Slytherin, and Slytherin Score. 10-10."  
  
This time it was the Slytherin side of the field that alighted with excitement. There was much catcalling and waving of flags, and by the time anyone could hear Corey Carmicheal again, the score was 20-20.  
  
"It's neck and neck. Both teams are showing extraordinary skill. It looks like this game's going to be in the hands of the Seekers. Speaking of Seekers, both teams have acquired new ones this year. Slytherin recently signed on fifth year Jordan Crenshaw. Gryffindor's got James Potter, a second year. Everyone's curious as to-roaring Ravenclaw! Was that the Snitch? Judging by the way Potter and Crenshaw are streaming towards the ground at the speed of light, I'd say it was! They're tight-is that Crenshaw? It looks like it's going to be-what just happened? I'm not exactly sure, but I know enough to say GRYFFINDOR'S WON IT! JAMES POTTER HAS THE SNITCH, AND THE FINAL SCORE IS 170-20, GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
Lily wasn't quite sure of the best way to handle her ecstasy. She decided on jumping on Sirius' back. Surprised, but whooping with joy himself, he spun her around, the two of them laughing and screaming at the top of their lungs. Below them, James was being carried across the pitch by his teammates, followed by a roaring crowd of excited Quidditch fans.  
  
"Our little James is growing up so fast," sniffed Sirius, leaning back to look at Lily. "I can hardly believe it."  
  
Remus snickered.  
  
"Neither can I," answered Lily.  
***  
  
"Now can you tell me why I'm in here with you, instead of out there with them?" asked Lily as irritably as she could, considering her elation at James' winning his first Quidditch game for Gryffindor. Out in the common room, the festivities had been going on for hours, and the shouts and singing of several of their friends could be heard through the vents in the walls. But Lily was inside the boys' dormitory with Sirius, Remus, Peter, and James himself. And she still didn't understand why.  
  
"When Remus and I were going off to the kitchens to restock on food, because Gryffindors eat like true pigs, the house elves were acting weird again. So I paid more attention, like I told you I would."  
  
"All the elves were really interested in listening to everything this one elf, Nobby, I think his name was, had to say," continued Remus. "From what I gathered, Nobby was a personal house elf, and not supposed to be there at all."  
  
"We tried to blend in," picked up Sirius, but he was cut short by a snort from James.  
  
"I'm sorry-it's just that it's so funny picturing you two as house elves, with those long ears and big eyes-oh, go on, Sirius."  
  
"Right. So we listened to some of Nobby's stories too. Apparently, there's some really odd, and really bad stuff going on in the wizarding world right now. Disappearances, and deaths. And nobody really knows what to make of them. But somehow, the Ministry's sure they're all the work of one person, or at least a group of people."  
  
"And every time there's a murder," Remus shuddered a bit as he went on with the story, "floating over the house or crime scene is a horrible picture of a skull, with a snake coming out of its mouth."  
  
Everyone was too shocked to speak for a minute or so. It was James who finally broke the sheet of silence.  
  
"Is there anything anybody can do?"  
  
"It doesn't look like it," muttered Sirius, and it was a mark of how concerned he was that he seemed completely serious-something he hardly ever was, despite his name.   
  
"For now, everyone just has to pray," sighed Remus.  
  
"And bide their time," added Sirius.  
  
For some reason, these last words were the most chilling of all.  
***  
  
A/N: Okay, okay, I know. Alex, this only goes up to what, November? This isn't their whole third year! I'm sorry, all right? It had to end where it did. Besides, there's nothing else really important at all that happens in their second year. And besides, aren't you all impatient to get to third year? That's when all the really good stuff starts happening. Okay, I'll shut up now. Luv ya!  
  
Disclaimers are stupid-this is fanfiction.net, people! But I really don't care, I'm giving you one anyway. None of the Harry Potter stuff, but the song at the beginning is from the movie Anastasia. I think that's it.  
  
I'm sorry I haven't added to this series in a while. I've been-busy? Oh, I know it's no excuse. So shoot me. Oy vey. School's a curse.   



End file.
